Excursions to Austria

The Austrian direction currently rests on a single route: the "Shopping tour to Parndorf", a bus-and-walking excursion of 16 hours at 5900 ₴ per person. One entry, but with a very specific purpose. Nobody travels to Parndorf "to see Austria" - people go for the shopping, and this page does not pretend otherwise.

Parndorf is the largest designer outlet centre in Austria. It stands near the Hungarian border, an hour's drive from Vienna, and gathers 170+ brands of clothing, footwear, sportswear and accessories at discounts of 30-90%. This is not a weekend sale but a permanent format, and people come to it from across Central Europe. That is why one-day excursions to Austria from Zakarpattia have historically meant Parndorf first of all.

Sixteen hours is a literal figure, not a turn of phrase. The departure is early, the return is late, and the drive takes up most of the day. Judge soberly whether you can handle a day like that, and whether your child can. The border queue is unpredictable in both directions, so the return time always floats - do not schedule anything unmovable for that evening. A lunch stop is included in the programme.

Besides Parndorf itself, the route lists Mukachevo and Berehove, which means the direction does not run out of Uzhhorod alone. Where it is more convenient for you to board is something to settle with the manager when you book: the pick-up point and time are agreed individually, by phone or on Viber, and that works more reliably than a general timetable on a website.

About Vienna, one honest note, because people search for it separately. There are no full excursions to Vienna from Uzhhorod in this section right now - the capital with Schönbrunn, the Hofburg, St. Stephen's Cathedral and the coffee houses appears in our list of Austria's main places as a landmark, not as a separate route. The same goes for Salzburg with its baroque old town beneath the Hohensalzburg fortress. The outlet lies an hour's drive from Vienna, so geographically you will be right next to the capital - but the format of the trip is a different one, and there is no point in pretending otherwise.

The documents are the same as for any trip abroad, and they are what most often derails a booking. You need a biometric international passport valid for at least 3 months after your return date. A child travels on their own international passport. A domestic passport or ID card will not get you across the border. Check the expiry date a week or two before departure, not the night before.

What the price covers: the transfer and guided support from a professional guide. Entrance tickets to museums and castles are paid separately - as, obviously, are the purchases themselves. The point of the format is that you pay neither for a hotel nor for several days of leave: one-day excursions to Austria cost you the ticket and whatever you decide to leave behind at the outlet.

Practical things that save the day. Wear comfortable footwear: the outlet is large, and over those hours you will walk more than on many a walking excursion. Dress for the weather, since the passages between shops are open air. Leave room in your bag for the trip back, and think through in advance what exactly you are hunting for: a person with a list gets round the brands they wanted, a person without one spends the whole free block on the ground floor. Free time for independent shopping at your own pace is always built into the programme - that, in fact, is the main part of the day.

The route is family-friendly, like most of our excursions, and children of any age do travel on it, with an allowance for those same 16 hours. If your child copes badly with long drives, look at the closer directions: excursions to Hungary, Slovakia or Romania are shorter, and they are one-day trips too, returning the same evening. Next door there is also the Poland section with the hike to Morskie Oko, for anyone who wants mountains rather than clothes rails.

If you want your own date, your own pace and your own company, the private excursion format with a personal guide is there: leave your contacts, and we will pick the route, the date and the guide to fit you and call back to agree the details. Parndorf is booked the same way - the "Book now" button, a name, a phone number, a call from the manager. We have been in business since 2008 as a licensed tour operator, licence AE No. 185601 of 06.12.2012, with an office at 3 Korzo Street, Uzhhorod.